saints

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first American canonized by the Roman Catholic Church (1975). Her image is on the bronze doors of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. (Image: Viridia via Flickr)

Elizabeth Bayley was born into a prominent old New York family. Her promising, privileged life, however, was marked by tragedy early on as her mother died when she was three years old. Her father remarried and had seven children with his second wife before they divorced. She and her sister were rejected by their stepmother and were left in the care of relatives while their father was studying medicine in London. During what she described as her dark years, she took comfort in reading the Scriptures, meditating, and writing in her journals. At nineteen, she was happily married toWilliam Seton, a successful businessman. Although they had five children and a busy household, Seton was drawn to charitable causes and organized a group of society women who visited the sick poor in their homes. Read the rest of this entry »